Your Labor Is Not In Vain

OUTLINE

I. Your Labor is Not in Vain

A. I Cor. 15:58

B. God keeps the score

C. There will be an answer

II. Things We Do

A. Figure everything with human understanding

B. Fasting and praying aren’t in vain

C. Rewards are there, just wait

D. Be faithful in your work

III. Stories of Rewards

A. Girl who later found God through Sis. Freeman’s prayer

B. Anonymous person who gave a tract to another friend

C. Buthhmans work in Ethiopia

“Therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as ye know your labor is not in vain.”

(I Cor. 15:58)

I am learning that we are not going to be able to access the harvest, we

are not going to be able to figure out what God has done. Before I left for

Africa there was a girl I had tried to get right with God. I thought I had

failed when I left for Africa. Years later at a Texas camp meeting I met a

young man who asked me if I remembered the girl I had helped before I left, and told me it was his mother. She did come to God, and raised her children by the Bible. Be faithful in your work and what you give to missions.

A student from a college in Carbondale, Illinois gave another student from

Ghana a track. In Ghana when a student goes away to college everyone in

their tribe contributes something but when they come home they all expect

something in return. The student handed the tract he received to someone as a gift. As a result of that anonymous person who passed out a tract. The

man who received the tract found God and his family also. Missionaries were sent when the family wrote requesting them and over 600 people were  baptized in the name of Jesus in Ghana. You don’t see immediate results from your labor many times but you will be rewarded.

The Lord gave me a scripture one time when everything seemed to be going wrong, “He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied,” I

took it as a promise that I would also one day see the travail of my soul

and be satisfied. I was privileged to visit two conferences in South Africa

and not one of the buildings would hold all of the people that came. I saw

all of the fine people singing and preaching and testifying about working

for God and I thought “Oh it is so worth while that little bit that we

invested of our money, time, and efforts in the work of God. We just simply

do not know that our labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

I want to tell a story of a man whose name I do not even know. I can only

tell you his nickname, they call him the Dutchman. He was from Holland, and went to Ethiopia. We don’t even know when he went. He didn’t have the board behind him and no partners in missions. He had no family or friends, just a burden. It is interesting to know that there wasn’t even an estimated work at that time in Holland. Somehow this man received a revelation of Jesus name and had received the Holy Ghost. When he got to Ethiopia he tried to learn American, but he was old and his Dutch tongue could not work, around the strange language.

As the Dutchman would try to tell them about Jesus, the people would

snicker at the way he was butchering their language. He tried to tell them

of his desire to do something for God. He had no income or support so he

had to rely on others to give him something to eat and a place to stay.

People would make a room for him and even give him food to eat. Many times they would ask him to pray and he would begin to talk in tongues, and after a while open his eyes and the food would be all be gone. There were several homes that he could go to and stay in, but he never received the pleasure of seeing one person see the truth.

There was one home he visited frequently because the woman had a very soft heart. Her name was Mother Salomi. They fixed a little room for him on the back porch. The Dutchman would fast for forty days every year leading up to Christmas and every year leading up to Easter. He had just completed his forty day fast after Easter when he came out of his room leaping. At first the family was afraid and became more afraid when he took one big leap and became suspended 3 ft off the ground. They say his face was shinning so much that they could hardly look at him. And he said, “It’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. The revival that I have been praying for is going to happen.” He turned to Mother Salomi and said, “My dear you are going to receive the Holy Ghost,” he turned to Iilla and said, “You my boy will be a preacher of the gospel after you receive the Holy Ghost.” The grandson was not at all interested and Mother Salomi simply didn’t understand. The Dutchman said while suspended in the air, “The day you see my blood in the street, you will know it is true what I have said.” He said of Mother Salomi’s husband, “My friend, I am sorry you will be gone when this happens.” He then sank slowly to ground, got his Bible and his belongings and walked out. They never saw him alive again. One day Iilla saw an  accident, it was the Dutchman. He had been hit by a car and blood from his head was running into the gutter, just as he told Iilla. From this Iilla was saved and also his mother, his Father died before it happened. Iilla is now a preacher of the gospel. Today, in four years time, 50,000 Ethiopians have received the Holy Ghost. There is a tremendous revival there today. The other day I was praying and I said, “Lord, would you tell the Dutchman what you are doing in Ethiopia, and his labor wasn’t in vain.”

Your labor is not in vain in the Lord!!!!